The HRLA Junior Lawyers Committee were delighted to hold the Lord Kerr Competition for the third year running in 2024. The essay question was: ‘Should the rights to freedom of expression and assembly protect disruptive protests?’
On 15 July 2024, HRLA held a celebration event to celebrate the essay competition and our winners, featuring a panel discussion, prize-giving and an opportunity to network with fellow HRLA members. The event began with an introduction from Patrick Kerr, whose kind donation in the name of his father makes the essay competition possible. We were reminded of the significant role Lord Kerr played in protecting human rights, and how proud we are to continue his legacy through this essay competition.
We were delighted to have Kirsty Brimelow KC, Jodie Beck from advocacy group Liberty, Professor David Mead, and Adam Wagner join us for this timely discussion. We are very grateful to the panelists for sharing their thought-provoking views on this topic, and for the great questions asked by audience members that helped continue the conversation.
We then announced the winners and runners-up of this year’s competition, as follows:
Winner: Name
Runners up: Name
All entries were of extremely high quality, and the committee were delighted to see that the competition is continuing to grow from its inauguration last year. We would like to thank everyone who submitted an entry, all our fantastic judges of leading human rights lawyers and academics who gave up their time to mark the submission, our brilliant panelists, all the event attendees and of course, Patrick Kerr for making this all possible. We all look forward to seeing the competition continue next year!
About the Lord Kerr Essay Competition
Lord Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, PC, was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving Supreme Court Justice and the last original member of the Court. Lord Kerr was an energetic courtroom interrogator who became an ardent defender of individual citizens’ human rights. He was a progressive figure whose rulings advanced the rights of women and children and resolved controversies from the Troubles. He was most proud of the court’s 2018 ruling that eventually led to the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. With other justices, he concluded that the Northern Irelan
